This invention relates to a television system including at least a display screen provided with, or connected to, a broadcast data receiver. The broadcast data receiver (BDR) receives and processes video, audio and/or auxiliary data generated by a broadcaster from a remote location, to a plurality of said BDR's.
Conventionally, at least some of the video data processed by the BDR relates to television or radio programs being shown on particular channels. An electronic or interactive program guide (EPG) display is selectively generated on the display screen using auxiliary data processed by the BDR. The EPG provides program schedules and listings for a particular period of time for the available channels. EPGs are becoming increasingly useful in place of conventional newspaper or magazine based television listings as the number of available channels on digital television increases and thus the number of programs available for viewing also increases.
In use, when a viewer is watching a particular program which is one of a larger series of related programs, the viewer may wish to know when the next episode of the program is due to be shown. However, even though the EPG display is available, as a result of the large number of programs available for selection for viewing, even if the viewer uses the EPG to look for the time of the next episode in the series, it typically takes the viewer some time to identify the next episode.
In addition, the same program is often repeated a number of times and it is again time consuming for the viewer to look through the EPG or other TV listings to identify which of the next showings of their selected program are repeats of previous episode that they have already watched and which are the showings of the next episode of the program series that they have just watched. Thus the viewer may end up watching a repeat of an earlier episode, miss the next episode and/or the like. In some cases the television presenter may announce at the end of the program when the next episode of the program is to be shown but in many cases this does not occur. Furthermore, if the program a viewer has just watched is a repeat of an earlier showing, the announcement at the end of the program may be pre-recorded and therefore out of date.
It is therefore an aim of the present invention to provide a means of allowing a user to quickly and easily determine when the showing of the next episode of a program is scheduled and/or the channel location of the same.